You just took their word???

[seigus]

Myself and three others are having a grand time at a restaurant/pub. Things are going well, and we've struck up a conversation with the folks next to us (the tables are long and seat several parties). Our neighbors leave, we continue to eat, drink and be merry. At last the check comes. Looking at it, I see it is WAY higher than it should be. I call the waitress over to show her. She says "Plus your friends' tab."
Me: WHAT?
W: They said you were paying for them.
M: We said no such thing! We don't even know them!
W: (smirking) You were talking to them.
M: (Confused by this logic) But we didn't say we were going to pay their tab. Did it ever occur to you to ask us if that were the case?
W: Well, they said you were paying...
M: Well, we're not. I can't believe you didn't even check.
W: Well, who's paying their tab?
M: Not our problem.
She goes off to fix the check, clearly believing that we are scamming her.
Double suck sighting - the other patrons and the waitress. Never went back.

[Zellie Crescent]

Wow. That was a total fail on the waitress, you ALWAYS check no matter what the person says. As for your "friends" I hope karma kicks them in the nuts and puts them in the same situation they put you in.

[PepperElf]

W: (smirking) You were talking to them.

By that logic W has just agreed to give you all of her wages. After all she WAS talking to you.

[Sheldonrs]

Just a guess but I'm betting the other group started talking to you first.
I'm also betting they made sure the waitress saw you talking to them.

[EvilEmpryss]

As for your "friends" I hope karma kicks them in the nuts and puts them in the same situation they put the waitress in.

Fixed that for ya.

In some places, that kind of thing comes out of the staff's pay. Being in a position where you have to explain that you're the victim of a scam would be nothing to those jerks. I'm sure they'd probably talk their way out of having to pay their OWN bill for being insulted!

[seigus]

Just a guess but I'm betting the other group started talking to you first.

Why, yes. Yes, they did.

[smileyeagle1021]

Fixed that for ya.

In some places, that kind of thing comes out of the staff's pay.

Which, and I hate to sound heartless, in a case like this is entirely justified. Common sense would tell you to NEVER trust the word of someone who says someone else is paying for them, ONLY trust the word of someone who says they will pay for someone else. If the server doesn't have that common sense, then they better learn it quickly.

[Dytchdoctir]

In some places, that kind of thing comes out of the staff's pay.

This is illegal in the U.S.

If your employer is making you pay for dine and dashers, the Dept. of Labor wants to hear from you. Their help line is 866-487-9243.

However, I agree that the waitress set herself up for fail by not checking with seigus and friends.

[retailworker7]

Someone did this to one of our friends one night when we were out. He does not even drink and someone told the bartender to put their drinks on his tab. She did not ask him. My friend talks to a lot of people when we are out and this had never happened to him before.

When he first got his tab he thought that the bartender had merged it with our tab by mistake. My hubby went over to the bar and asked for a copy of our tab to see if it was correct. It was not our drinks. The bartender also never asked my friend if he was picking up someone else's tab. The owner was there that night and he fixed our friends tab right away.

[Pixilated]

Waitress should've double-checked with you guys before agreeing to put the scammers' tab on yours ... especially if said scammers made a point of telling her to do so out of earshot of the table.

Hopefully she has learned something and won't do this again.

That's interesting about it being illegal to make waitstaff pay for dine-and-dashers. I'm pretty sure that's widespread in Canada as well. No idea whether it's illegal over here.

[EvilEmpryss]

This is illegal in the U.S.

If your employer is making you pay for dine and dashers, the Dept. of Labor wants to hear from you. Their help line is 866-487-9243.

I did not know this. Of course, the last time I had to worry about anything like that being done to me was *mumblemumblemumbletwentyyearsagomumblemumblemumble* but I've heard it used by waitstaff in the recent past when I send back a dish that was obviously not what I ordered.

*evil grin* I'll be sure to remember it, though, if anyone tries to BS me again.

[icmedia]

This is illegal in the U.S.

If your employer is making you pay for dine and dashers, the Dept. of Labor wants to hear from you. Their help line is 866-487-9243.

However, I agree that the waitress set herself up for fail by not checking with seigus and friends.

Despite being illegal, it is still standard practice everyplace I've worked-and I have worked in privately owned restaurants, chain restaurants, big cities, small towns, and everything in between.

The thinking is (from a management standpoint), what's to prevent a server from having friends stop by, then claiming that they dined-and-dashed?

I'm sure that, pressed with the issue, that the owners/upper management would claim that there was no policy requiring it, and that the server paid for it out of the goodness of his/her heart

[Kheldarson]

Despite being illegal, it is still standard practice everyplace I've worked-and I have worked in privately owned restaurants, chain restaurants, big cities, small towns, and everything in between.

The thinking is (from a management standpoint), what's to prevent a server from having friends stop by, then claiming that they dined-and-dashed?

I'm sure that, pressed with the issue, that the owners/upper management would claim that there was no policy requiring it, and that the server paid for it out of the goodness of his/her heart

Actually, there's a simpler answer than instituting a rule/policy that violates federal rules...

Make it a fireable offense. Seeing as most states are at-will anyway...

[sms001]

What really struck me was the naivete of the waitron in that particular situation: "the tables are long and seat several parties." While great for getting guests to mingle, it seems like staff would be EXTRA attentive to who was paying for what in such a mixed situation.

[Mr Hero]

Am I the only one who thought of this scene from Dumb and Dumber?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUvV0BOiE6E